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introducing LILAC's...
ADVISORY COUNCIL
The Advisory Council consists of exceptionally talented and highly accomplished medical school and college students who have gained significant experience on their life journeys and who have a demonstrated commitment to impacting those around them. We invited these incredibly capable young adults who desire to join LILAC as mentors and guides for all of our high school students, as together, we seek to maximize the good we can achieve in our communities. We are so honored to have such a well-rounded and compassionate group of adult students from different backgrounds and areas of expertise to help LILAC grow as an organization that can truly effect change in our day-to-day operations!
If you are a college or graduate school student, or an adult professional who believes in LILAC's mission and would like to share your expertise and mentor us to broaden and deepen the impact we have on the communities we serve, we would love to hear from you!
Danyaal Ain is a first-year medical school student at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. He is a student at the highly esteemed Emergency Medicine Residency Program, which is part of the 3YMD (Three Year MD program) associated with Stony Brook Medical Center.
Danyaal will be joining the front line of physicians in the emergency department of his hospital soon. Prior to medical school, he attended the highly selective Bachelors/MD Scholars for Medicine Program at Stony Brook with a full scholarship. He is currently working at a medical clinic and conducting biochemical research at the Ghebrehiwet Laboratory in the Immunology Department of the Stony Brook Health Sciences Center. Having spent so much time there, Stony Brook has become Danyaal’s new home, and he hopes to take care of the people in the Stony Brook community for the years to come.
Danyaal attended Stuyvesant High School in NYC, and was an Intel STS Semifinalist. He has lived in NYC for most of his life, and the recent coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc in his home community of Elmhurst, Queens, where the virus has infected and taken a substantial number of people. Danyaal is a strong believer in community engagement and empowerment, and he believes the work that LILAC has done to support healthcare workers and those devastated by the pandemic is incredibly inspirational and honorable.
As a member of the Advisory Council of what he believes is a highly important charitable organization, he hopes to fully utilize his resources and his growing expertise in the medical field to advance LILAC’s mission and support its cause. He hopes to guide the students of this nonprofit through partnerships and collaborations with health care facilities, access to medical professionals, and strategic planning of various special events and projects, and looks forward to all the great work LILAC will continue to do!
Ishani Bansal is a first year undergraduate student at Stony Brook University pursuing Biomedical Engineering with a pre-med track in the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Honors Program with the prestigious Presidential Scholarship. She plans to have a concentration in Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering and be
an active member in Camp Kesem to support children impacted by a parent’s cancer as well as Phi-Delta Epsilon, a pre-professional pre-med fraternity with guiding principles of philanthropy and service.
Currently, Ishani is an intern at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in the Genetics Center studying rare developmental disorders as a result of genetic mutations through biostatistics and phylogenetic analyses. She is currently working on a review article in the area of interest. Last year, Ishani conducted neurodegenerative disease research on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease associated with PRUNE1 studies at Regeneron. Her work on this project took her far in the renowned Regeneron STS Science Competition.
Ishani attended Highland High School in the Hudson Valley Region of New York State, and was Valedictorian of her class. She is a National Merit Finalist and Award Winner and IBM Watson Scholarship recipient. She had numerous leadership roles including serving as the President of National Honor Society and the President of the ModelUnited Nations Club. Furthermore, Ishani has shadowed and volunteered at St. Peter’s Hospital, Northern Medical Group, and various nursing homes.
Ishani believes the work of LILAC is the future of providing the
support for our healthcare workers and community members that have been devastated by COVID-19. As a member of the Advisory Council of this organization, Ishani hopes to use her passion, dedication, and thought-process to further LILAC’s mission. She hopes to guide students in spreading their wings and embodying the ideals they stand for as future leaders in the medical field. Ishani could not be more excited to work with LILAC and do great things in the scope of humanitarian work!
Jahnvi Bansal is a second-year medical student at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. She is currently conducting clinical research in the Ophthalmology, Cardiothoracic Surgery, and Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Departments.
Prior to attending medical school, Jahnvi completed her Bachelors in Biomedical Engineering, summa cum laude, with a concentration in Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering at Stony Brook. She attended the highly selective Bachelors/MD Engineering Scholars for Medicine Program with the prestigious Trustee Scholarship, and was in the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Honors Program. During her undergraduate career, she worked on various research endeavors, most notably focusing on novel tissue engineering designs, along with her summer at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals studying new lipid lowering therapeutics.
Jahnvi attended Highland High School in the Hudson Valley Region of New York, and was Salutatorian of her graduating class. Through her work in the National Honor Society and the Interact Club, she embodied her love for community empowerment and service. She carries her devotion to community service throughout her academic career, wherever she goes.
Jahnvi is an ardent supporter of the work that LILAC has done to support healthcare workers and community members that have been devastated by the pandemic. The work is incredible and aligns with her dedication to give back to the community. As a member of the Advisory Council of this blossoming charitable organization, she hopes to utilize her resources, dedication, and growing experience in the medical field to advance LILAC’s mission and have it help even more community members. She aims to guide students working with LILAC in an effort to foster collaborative relationships with healthcare facilities and medical professionals. Jahnvi is looking forward to working with LILAC and doing great things in the realm of community service and humanitarian work!
Andrew Fang is a junior at Stanford University majoring in Computer Science. He grew up in Jericho, NY and attended Jericho High School.
At Stanford, he is the Partnerships Director at the Asia-Pacific Student Entrepreneurship Society (ASES), a globally focused student entrepreneurship society with chapters all over the world. He is tasked with organizing and managing programs and connecting venture capitalists with Stanford's start-ups. Andrew is guided and driven by his interests in defense, artificial intelligence, and generally, projects that focus on saving lives.
In high school, Andrew was a Regeneron STS Finalist for his Parkinson's treatment research, earning him a $27,000 award. At Stanford, Andrew built an IoT trashcan prototype that automatically separates trash/recycling with AI at Samsung, along with participating in a start-up competition that won him $2,500 for his project on drones that can see through walls. He also earned a $20,000 grant from the Office of Naval Research for a project on automated satellite imagery analysis to identify North Korean military assets.
In his free time, Andrew browses Reddit, occasionally loses money in poker, and applies for credit cards (he has more than 10). He is currently a software engineer intern at defense company Anduril, which builds autonomous drones, sentry towers, and sensors, all fused together into a single operating picture with AI. A unicorn startup company currently valued at $1.9 billion, Anduril works with U.S. Customs & Border Patrol, U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Air Force.
Andrew believes it's a horrific injustice that those on the front lines of the COVID-19 epidemic are not provided the equipment necessary for their safety, and believes that this needs to be fixed in order to sustain a moral, long-term battle against COVID-19. He is amazed at how efficient and productive LILAC’s operations have been and is excited to help elevate LILAC to the next level with his extensive network, resources, access, knowledge, and experience in social entrepreneurship.
Alex Hong hails from Cambridge, Massachusetts. He turned down an offer from the Wharton School of Business to start college at Columbia University this fall, majoring in Economics. He has been an avid rower and singer since high school, and was even a rower for China’s Youth Crew Olympics Team.
Alex is extremely committed to helping LILAC grow, but not just because the organization has a very catchy name (though he believes it does!). Having seen the immense impact such a driven, student-run organization has made, and believing in what he sees as inspiring potential for greater growth, Alex wants to support LILAC in its alignment with his stance that activism should begin with a focused and local community impact before building to higher ground.
Too often, he sees nonprofits, primarily led by young people, which tend to make their objectives and targets too broad and end up accomplishing very little. He appreciates LILAC’s focus on their local community thus far, and believes that this strong foundation they have built will lead them to continue being a profoundly positive force in helping with the COVID-19 situation in Long Island and NYC. He hopes to provide his experience and connections in business management, partnerships, and strategic planning to make LILAC even more successful at the national and global level.
Jessica is a rising junior at Yale University studying molecular, cellular, and developmental biology and minoring in statistics. In high school, she was a two-time Siemens Competition Semifinalist, and spent four years doing science research in a total of three different laboratories, conducting research in topics spanning from Alzheimer’s disease to cancer-related drug delivery.
While pursuing her degree at Yale, Jessica also simultaneously works at a university lab where she studies immunobiology, a subject which she is deeply fascinated by. In the future, she wants to heal people who suffer from all manner of disease or injury, and seeks to use her skills and knowledge to protect the lives of people we love. Currently, she volunteers at a hospice where she helps care for and accompany patients.
As a premed student, Jessica is proud to be a part of such an awe-inspiring student-run organization like LILAC, and she is proud to support the many workers keeping the rest of us healthy and safe. She believes that the values that LILAC promotes, like solidarity and love, strengthen us in the face of hardship. She looks forward to continuing to uphold these values as an Advisor, where she hopes to bring her knowledge, expertise, and connections in the medical and technological fields to advise younger students and help guide LILAC to realize its full potential as an organization that seeks to have a genuine impact.
Erika Rosenkranse is a laboratory manager at Mount Saint Mary College, to LILAC. She has been working in the lab for the past year conducting research and assisting undergraduate STEM students and plans to attend medical school in the upcoming year.
Prior to her current occupation, Erika attended Marist College where she completed her Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and Biology. She graduated summa cum laude, was a member of the Honors program and the Sigma Zeta National Mathematics and Science Honor Society, and received the Mary Lou Gantert Award for Excellence in Science. Since she was a freshman at Marist, she conducted genetics research which focused on how chromatin remodelers assisted in double-stranded break repair during meiosis. Erika presented her work at various conferences including those in LA and Barcelona, the earlier of which she received the Genetics Society of America Undergraduate Travel Award. This research later culminated in a publication in Genetics which was released in March 2018.
Before attending Marist College, Erika attended Highland High School in the Hudson Valley Region of New York State and was the valedictorian of her class. She was a part of the Interact Club and National Honor Society which gave her an additional appreciation for her hometown and community. This carried through to her college career and most recently she organized a Meal Train in her community to provide relief to those that have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Erika is an avid supporter of the work that LILAC has done with providing assistance and resources to those that have been working at the front line of the pandemic, as well as those that have been directly affected. LILAC is honorable, progressive, and demonstrates leadership during these unforeseen times, all of which are core values that Erika aligns with. As a member of the Advisory Council, Erika hopes to utilize her prior experiences and resources to collaborate with other members to assist in LILAC’s mission in providing relief to those affected by COVID-19.
Sultan is a third-year medical student at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School, where he was a high achiever in the classroom, an all-star cricket athlete, and a tireless volunteer in his community. After finishing high school, he matriculated at Columbia University, where he majored in Economics and built upon his budding interest in medicine by taking premedical courses. At the same time, he went on service missions to Guatemala and Nepal, conducted Vitamin D research, taught conversational English in Turkey, and worked as a medical assistant at a pediatric clinic.
Sultan realized that, while working as a physician would enable him to heal individuals, studying public health would allow him to heal communities, leading him to complete a Master of Public Health at SUNY Buffalo. Afterwards, he went on to complete another master’s, this time in biomedical sciences, while also continuing his volunteer work in community organizations and clinics, conducting research on inflammation, and even joining a research project in Indonesia as a USAID Research and Innovation Fellow.
So far in medical school, Sultan has served as a mentor to college students interested in pursuing medicine and held leadership positions in the Radiology Interest Club, Muslim Students Association, and the Refugee Health and Wellness Club. He is excited to partner with such a driven and capable youth-organization like LILAC, and hopes to apply his knowledge of public health and experience in medicine to assist LILAC in achieving its goals.
